Bahia de Kino, Sonora, Mexico
We get asked if we have many concerns about our personal safety here. The answer is: “Not many.” We don’t engage in unsafe activities here, or on the other (US) side of the border, so there’s little reason to fear for our safety.
But there are other reasons we don’t fear living here. For one, after having traveled widely in Mexico since the early 1970s, I’ve never seen a gun store in Mexico. I can’t say they don’t exist here, but we understand that the legal purchase of a weapon here requires a lot more paperwork and examination than in the US, where any mentally unstable individual can go buy a gun and kill several people before going to California to kill a few more. This actually happened a few years back in Albuq.
A friend mentioned that since several Sonoran and Chihuahuan druglords have been busted lately there’s been an increase in turfwars among the underlings and certain areas are not safe for gringos here. In fact a few gringos have been caught in the crossfire when they happened to be in an ill-advised location. He suggested that visiting the red-light district of Nogales at night may not be a wise choice at this time. We want to pass this important information on to our friends to insure that they have a safe visit. So please be aware that you’ll be much safer if you only patronize the red-light district during daylight hours. — PRW